CHAPTER VII.

A conspiracy against the liberties of the infant republic; and President M'Goggin is elected to rule over it.

At the end of this space, the trustees succeeded in engaging the services of a personage, who, I verily believe, was procured for the sole purpose of testing the efficacy of the brutum fulmen, of subjugating us by main force; for he was an illiterate vulgar dolt, an Irishman just caught, who professed, as he said himself, to teach nothing but "r'ading, writing, 'rithmetic, and dacent manners;" although, in other respects, the very man the trustees wanted. His name was M'Goggin. He was six-feet high, and limbed and shouldered like a Hercules; and, indeed, of such strength and activity, that, had he been set at the business for which he was best qualified—that is, canal-digging-I have no doubt he would have cut through the Isthmus of Panama in a month, without any assistance. He had an ugly look, too, about the eyes, which, besides being of the colour of a cat's, were overshadowed by a pair of brows of such a bigness and appearance that they looked like two stuffed rat-skins stuck on with glue; and his complexion was of the hue of sole-leather, plentifully besprinkled with freckles of the size of half-dimes. To add to his demerits, he was entirely incapable of fear, and had such a natural love of a row, that, when informed

by the trustees of our character and doings, and the probability, or indeed, certainty of his soon being embroiled with us, he rubbed his hands with satisfaction, and declared we were "swate little divils," and that" we should get along very well together."

I remember very well the impression which the first view of this destined enslaver produced upon the scholars; and it was none the weaker for some hints of his qualities which had begun to circulate among us. We were assembled at the Academy door, comparing accounts, when the new President was pointed out by one who had seen him before, crossing the street to a turnstile, which led into the schoolhouse green, through a fence full five feet high. We all pronounced him a giant, and some one said he looked as if he could "walk over the fence like nothing;" a declaration, which, though made in jest, was justified by the event; for the gentleman, neglecting the stile, either because he did not see it, or scorned to pass by a mode so humble and commonplace, suddenly leaped into the air and over the fence, without so much as laying his hands upon it; which, indeed, he could not do, both hands being occupied by two mysterious-looking bundles, the nature of which, at that distance, we could not make out. The facility with which he performed this wondrous feat, as if it were a matter of every day's occurrence, and the appearance he had in the air so like a fiery dragon or a flying dromedary, struck a kind of terror into the youthful republicans, who looked upon one another with blank visages; and then, as Mr. M'Goggin drew nigh, slunk away silently into the school, and betook them to their

seats.

In a moment more, M'Goggin entered; and we then saw that the two bundles he carried were com

posed of goodly birchen twigs, there being at least a groce of them altogether; and this sight, it may be supposed, did not banish the chill of our first impressions. These odious emblems of rule, carried on his shoulders like the fasces of a Roman lictor, he bore to the master's desk, situated on a platform; which having ascended, he turned upon us the light of his countenance, and roared, (for his voice was like the bellow of a bull,) in tones that made the glasses rattle, and, I might almost add, some of our bones into the bargain-"Good morrow till ye, ye spalpeens! I'm your masther and t'acher-Get up and make me a bow, to show your good manners.'

Now whether it was that there was electricity in his tones, or that we were all willing to prove we were well bred young gentlemen, it is very certain that every soul in school, at these words, bounced up and fell to scraping and ducking with the utmost civility; which being done, the invader, dropping down upon his chair, roared out again, before we could follow his example and resume our seats, which we were about to do-"Stand at aise!--as ye are, ye rapperces, 'till I lay down the law till ye!"

In this, also, he was obeyed; though I cannot say any of us actually stood at our ease, but, on the contrary, we remained casting wild and anxious glances one upon another, as if doubting whether we had not of a sudden got some dangerous nondescript animal, instead of a new preceptor, among us. But the gentleman gave us no time for pondering. "Now, ye blackguards!" he cried, "listen to my spache, and remimber it every letther; and him that doesn't, belave me, I'll have the skin of him. D'ye hear, ye vagebones! Now, thin, I'm tould ye're an iligant set of divil's imps, one an' all, that knows nayther manners, nor obadience, nor dacency of be

haviour; but, arrah, ye divils, look me in the face, till I tell ye what I am of meself, that is the Masther over ye!"

Every eye was at once obediently turned upon the gentleman, who with furious voice, and hideous contortions of countenance, like a bulldog taking physic, continued:

"Be the powers, I'm nothing at all at all, only jist the gentleman that will bate the wickedness out of ye! D'ye hear that, ye rapscallions?"

And with that, Mr. M'Goggin, whose ire seemed to rise at the sound of his own voice, jumped up again; and flourishing his birches, a whole bundle at at ime, again burst forth: "D'ye want to be licked, ye divils? I'm tould, ye're grand fighting ganiuses. But d'ye want it? Does any of ye want it? If so, spake; spake up like big little fellows, any of ye; for, be me sowl, I'm itching to begin wid ye!"

This harangue, or rather defiance, for it was nothing less, the horrid fellow concluded by marching round the room, and prying into every countenance, as if for the purpose of finding some one disposed to try conclusions with him; and it is wonderful with what pacific modesty every eye was cast to the floor, the moment Mr. M'Goggin stood before its possessor. Even General Dicky Dare, who we thought could face Old Nick himself, was observed to become so studious and intent upon a sum he was working on his slate, as the gorgon passed, as to be quite unable to lift his eyes up to it. In short, we were all very peaceably inclined that morning, and stood the challenge with patience-because, as we agreed, as soon as we got out of school, Mr. M'Goggin was a stranger, and it was not worth while to quarrel with him at the first introduction. Besides, as we also

concluded, it would be just as well to wait a while, to know what sort of a person he was.

In this particular, Mr. M'Goggin did all he could to gratify us, by laying open his characteristics as fast as possible. I should rather say, his characteristic, for he had but one; and that was a raging desire to get an opportunity to trounce some of us. He sat upon the watch all day long, birch in hand, threatening, fifty times an hour, if a boy did but look up, or scratch his head, or drop a book, or stir on his seat, or do, in fact, any thing at all, to "bate" him, if he did that again; and as we were all too intent upon the study of his characteristics, as above, to think of giving him such an opportunity of quarrelling with us, it so happened that, for five whole days, to the infinite astonishment of the whole town, we were the best behaved boys that were ever seen in a school-room.